At 08:54 19 August 2007, Dan G wrote:

The new 'XL' cockpit is clearly SH's second attempt
to catch up with the DG, rectifying the problems of
the 'snug' Janus fuselage.


Just for interest - as I was looking around the prototype
Duo X at the factory in May 2005 one of the staff told
me that they were already planning modifications o
the cockpit 'to improve the separation of the pilots',
as he put it.



As far as I can tell, the only difference applicable
in normal flight
is the addition of winglets. How much effect does fitting
winglets
have? I seem to remember that they could only achieve
a benefit within quite a narrow speed range.

That was true about some older winglets designs but
whole point of the Maughmer winglets now used on Schempp-Hirth
gliders is that there is either performance benefit
or no loss throughout the cross country flying speed
range. See Prof Maughmer's articles at:

http://www.mandhsoaring.com/winglets.html